Interview with Professor Yebio WoldeMariam

It is very sad to see the country lose its youth in such a dramatic fashion. Mind you the Eritrean youth has carried the brunt of the wars that has been raging in the region for half a century. We have lost many young, educated, able bodied, skilled and potential inventors, producers, scientists, and artists to our detriment.  Instead of rebuilding and restoring what is lost we continue with the path of more egregious destruction.  I am sure this is not news to the EPLF as it is a witness to the destruction of our youth for decades. That is why it does not bother the leadership of the mayhem that is occurring under its nose.

Interview with Wolde Yesus Ammar

Interview:  Wolde Yesus Ammar, Foreign Affairs Chief of the Eritrean People’s Democratic Front, EPDP

Journalist Michael Abraha called upon Wolde Yesus Ammar in Switzerland to have his views and analysis on the Eritrea sanctions, Ethio-Eritrea relations and why EPDP remains outside of the new Eritrean National Democratic Assembly – largest political coalition embracing dozens of Eritrean political parties, factions, civic organizations, intellectuals and religious personalities. Wolde Yesus begins by evaluating the current Eritrean state of affairs and the struggle for freedom and democracy?

Inteview with Dr. Yosuf Berhanu

As Dictator Isaias Afewerki prepares to give his recycled New Year message of gloom, his democratic opponents in exile have been huddling together in a bid to bring hope and freedom to the Eritrean people. They held their first Congress last month in Hawassa, Ethiopia, and formed a new 127-member coalition to be headed by Dr. Yosuf Berhanu – veteran fighter and physician. Michael Abraha recently sat with him in Addis Ababa and first put to him what the National Congress has achieved?

Q+A with Ahmed Nasser – Chairman of Eritrean National Salvation Front

Ahmed Nasser is one of the most tested, secular and multi-lingual (Tigre, Saho, Tigrinya, Arabic, English and Amharic languages) Eritrean leaders. Of Saho ethnic background, Ahmed Nasser has devoted all his life to the struggle for liberty and democracy in Eritrea.  He chaired the Eritrean Liberation Front (ELF) from 1975 to 1982 and later headed the breakaway ELF-Revolutionary Council from ‘82 to ’95. Ahmed is now leader of the Eritrean National Salvation Front which is dedicated to the immediate dislodgment of what he calls Isaias’s shameless despotism. I sat with him at the Haile (Ghebreselassie) Resort Hotel in Hawassa for a brief interview on the state of the Eritrean opposition and on the Eritrean National Congress.

Interview with Eyob Bahta - Part II (Video)

From what was happening in the prison when you were there, in what kind of circumstances do you think the prisoners find themselves at the moment? I mean for those who are there – the remaining 20, like you said?

The way I see it, and from my experience, I don’t expect the prisoners will be allowed to leave the prison. It is how the system was working and I don’t expect it will change how it operates. Unless there is pressure from elsewhere, I don’t think they [implying the government] will take the initiative to release them. If they can keep them without any due process of law for so many years while the prisoners are dying of illness and much worse and instead of providing them with medical service but waiting for them to die, I don’t think anyone will come out alive.

Introduction: Eritrea - Ten Years of Torture

What you are about to read is a transcript of an interview given to Human Rights Concern - Eritrea by Mr Eyob Bahta who was a prison guard from September 2001 until his escape from Eritrea in 2010.

The story begins on the 17th of September 2001 in Embat’kala prison, and moves on to Era’Ero prison where the horror still continues to this day.

Who are the prisoners and what is their crime?

Interview with Eyob Bahta - Part I (VIDEO)

Were there any prisoners who were seriously sick or died in Embat’kala prison?

Yes, three died in Embat’kala. The first who died was Fessehaye (Joshua). He was a journalist, I think. He committed suicide. He hanged himself. General Okbe Abraha tried to commit suicide by trying to cut himself with broken glass. He was given medical attention. He recovered. But he was suffering from asthma and died about six months later. Mohammed Sheriffo fell sick and died. These three died in Embat’kala.

Introduction: Eritrea - Ten Years of Torture

What you are about to read is a transcript of an interview given to Human Rights Concern - Eritrea by Mr Eyob Bahta who was a prison guard from September 2001 until his escape from Eritrea in 2010.

The story begins on the 17th of September 2001 in Embat’kala prison, and moves on to Era’Ero prison where the horror still continues to this day.

Who are the prisoners and what is their crime?

Why More Sanctions? Q+A - Semere Kesete, Former Student Union President at the now closed Asmara University

I think it is advisable to look at the past records to predict what lies ahead. If you carefully analyze all Eritrea’s diplomatic efforts, you would find a regular pattern. In most cases, Eritrea loses the diplomatic battle. In most cases, it couldn’t score a diplomatic success. The African Union’s vote in Sirte, Libya in 2008 is a clear example of the Eritrean Government’s diplomatic failure. Even Libya, supposedly best friend of the regime in Eritrea at the time, couldn’t show the volition to support Eritrea’s anti-sanction case. What we can expect from the current UN Security Council debate therefore not going to be different. There are indications that the Council will give full credence to East African government’s concerns and pass IGAD’s sanctions motions as they are. 

Appalling Work Conditions at Bisha-Nevsun Mining Project, Eritrea

So far, what the informants have to say has corroborated much of what have been suspected for a long time – and more. The story that is emerging is a story of two different groups of workers : one mostly foreign, well-fed, well-quartered, well paid, well insured and working in a safe environment; and the other group: natives, poorly fed, poorly quartered, poorly paid, overworked, nominally insured and working in an unsafe environment. But this, by itself, doesn’t say much. It is only by categorizing the workers in the different strata that they have been put into that we see how the regime is exploiting the workers in every way imaginable to maximize its profit...

(Photo: Bisha-Nevsun Project, Eritrea)

Wolde Yesus Ammar On UN Sanctions On Eritrea

Therefore, it will be everybody’s responsibility to see to it that Isaias Afeworki does not get any more access to increased revenues from mineral exports from Eritrea. Today, the Eritrean population is a ticking bomb ready to explode. Our people inside the homeland as well as those in the Diaspora do not expect the PFDJ to change its entrenched behavior, and any additional resources will not be used for any purpose other than the regime’s futile militarist adventures. I expect a popular explosion in Eritrea in the event of this regime starting to export gold from Bisha, Zara or Emba-Derho. The Eritrean opposition camp will also re-organize itself to see to it that the regime does not get access to added resources for increased political suppression of our people.

Interview with President of Eritrea: Fighting words of peace

Please amplify on the part played by the external factor.

During my visit to Egypt, when we were having refreshments on the banks of the Nile, small fishing boats pulled up next to us and their owners begged for handouts. Nothing could more vividly reflect the unjust distribution of wealth ...

In your latest speech, you mentioned a plot to destabilise your country and Eritrea's apprehension of a British ship carrying arms. Could you speak about this?

... It was an insignificant incident that had no effect on our stability or security.

Eritrea: Q/A with Seyoum Tesfaye, “The Era of the Vanguard is Over”

The brutal regime has imposed its draconian Sahel experience on the whole nation. The opposition is now learning, albeit slowly, that the desire to bring everyone under one organization (umbrella/united front) has not worked and it is not going to work. The centralized control-top-down revolution is a passé. At the minimum, 80% of Eritreans in Diaspora will never return to Eritrea. Yet we observe the desire by some within the Diaspora political elites struggling overtime to make all critical decisions for Eritreans living inside and outside of the country. It defies common sense. The effort to draft a constitution in exile and even be tempted to try to form some kind of a “government in exile” or “a transitional council” in the waiting etc is an extension of the ongoing confusion. ...

Q & A: Hailemariam Tesfai, Opposition ENCDC Head for N. America

Eritrea’s pro-democracy forces are more united than many want to admit. These forces may be fighting as members of political or civic organizations or on their own as individuals - be it as bloggers, website or other media network editors, essayists, poets, etc, but they remain united in the important task of freeing and democratizing Eritrea.

Hailemariam Tesfai is Chairman of the North America Regional Administration for the newly formed Eritrean National Commission for Democratic Change, ENCDC. He believes his organization is the most broad-based and diverse force that can bring all Eritreans together and challenge the Asmara regime with one voice.

Eritrea: Ample Proof to Implicate Eritrean Leaders over Somalia - Dr. Daniel Rezene (UK).

The body of evidence used by the Security Council is based mainly on the following documents, compiled by a Security Council-mandated organ called the Somalia Monitoring Group – I assume you know this group. This group was mandated with the supervision of the arms embargo and monitoring its implementation and/or violation. In so doing, it has compiled several comprehensive periodic reports based on thorough research techniques and methodology. In many of these reports, there is a bulk of information showing that Eritrea has been violating the embargo by sending loads of ammunitions and weapons to Somalia in different times. Of course, the Eritrean government and its supporters are saying the reports are fabrications but such a mere allegation does not make the reports fictions (although there might be some inaccuracies in some part of the reports – we are talking about more than 600 pages of documents).